The Big Easy

[betsyshoegal]

Does anyone know how/why New Orleans got the name the Big Easy??

[Whack-a-Mole]

According to this:

This is an euphemism for New Orleans, like the “Crescent City,” that is attributed to Betty Guillaud, a gossip columnist for the Times Picayune, in the '70s as a term of endearment and an answer to the then I Love New York City hype. If it’s the “Big Apple” then New Orleans is the “Big Easy,” where everything is slower, simpler and easy-going.

SOURCE: http://www.crescentcity.com/dictionary.htm

[Antonius_Block]

[nitpick]
Whether or not Whack-a-Mole’s link provides accurate information as to the source of the nickname “Big Easy”, I don’t think the author knows what the word euphemism means. I think nickname, sobriquet, or epithet would be work better in the first sentence.
[/nitpick]

[No slight intended on Whack-a-Mole, of course.]

[AskNott]

Another name for it is “The City That Care Forgot.” I can’t begin to figure that one out.

[samclem]

@AskNott

Another name for it is “The City That Care Forgot.” I can’t begin to figure that one out.

The group over at the American Dialect Society have found this name as far back as 1913. It meant a city without a care.